Little Old Man

Carter has a hilarious new habit. He tends to have about $3 in small change rattling around in his right pocket at any point in time. It's always the right pocket. He has to have it everyday as soon as he's dressed in his day clothes. Which explains why he will NOT wear sweats. No pockets to jingle his change! When he walks, he needs his right hand in his pocket. I swear my son is channeling someone's weird uncle Morty, who always gave the kiddos a shiny nickel when he visited.

This evening when I undressed him for his bath, it was riDONKulous. There was something like 100 coins in his pocket, adding a good pound to his weight. And I have found him riffling through Paul's pockets for more change when he gets the opportunity. Oh, and he also put a little Listerine strips pack in his pocket the other day--like Daddy does. Which I need to mention to Paul, since he sometimes puts an Adderall in his Listerine pack to take one with him discretely. He's good about making sure he never leaves one accesible to a child, but still, I need to be sure he doesn't leave the packs lying around for peace of mind.

The Littlest Lactation Consultant

100_5232, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

Carter continues with his insistence that the baby must nurse all the time. If Cole has unlatched and dozed off, Carter will try to wake him, saying, "Cole! Nurse!" He also loves to inform me when Cole is pooping. (Cole is a bit noisy at it, so I think anyone in earshot can figure out that one!) Carter loves Cole so much, it's really adorable. And scary, since if he ignored the baby, it'd be safer on the whole.

Oh, and yesterday Carter sat on Cole for a moment. Accidentally. Cole was nonplussed, being in a soft papasan chair--Carter fell backwards not paying attention to anything as he and Bunny were playing with their Trader Joe's balloons from groceriy shopping earlier that day. While I would love a good babysitter, that is *not* what I meant.

Really Cool Forecast (if you're a duck)

Tonight Jan 25 Rain / Wind N/A/48° 100%			High not valid after 2pm
Sat Jan 26 Rain / Wind 60°/48° 90%			60°F
Sun Jan 27 Rain 51°/41° 80%			51°F
Mon Jan 28 Showers 50°/37° 40%			50°F Get the Gameday Forecast
Tue Jan 29 Few Showers 53°/40° 30%			53°F
Wed Jan 30 Few Showers 52°/41° 30%			52°F
Thu Jan 31 Few Showers 53°/42° 30%			53°F Get Tips for Driving in the Rain
Fri Feb 1 Few Showers 54°/40° 30%			54°F

Happy Two Weeks

100_5235, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

Taken on Cole's Two Week 'Birthday'. :) Still sleeps a lot, but having more and more alert moments, too. Cole seems (knock wood!) to be really mellow and as someone else said, an old soul. He often looks amused, like this is all old news to him.

Cole's starting to bat at things just a tiny bit, beginning to notice he has hands. Spent a long time messing with his left ear yesterday, like, "Hey! I can feel this two ways!" Loathes diaper changes, like most tiny babies, but quickly calms once he feels himself being dressed, and certainly when held. Paul's been getting him to take to the sling like a pro, and usually Cole settles right in, unless he's simply not ready to chill--then he generally still quiets down pretty quickly--or he gets to come back out, since it's supposed to be a nice place, not torture. ;)

Did I mention my husband jokingly nicknamed him Cutie McTiny? Probably not going to stick, but he is cute and tiny.

2 Weeks with a Cheesy Grin

Call the baby mensa chapter, for I have a genius on my hands. Cole is smiling. This is no gas, for I know the face he makes for *that* (and the general accompanying noises). It's uncoordinated, and very amateur, but hey, it's pretty adorable. Maybe I will see if I can't get Paul to make him smile and film it, since these things are so fleeting.

Success!

Managed to take three kids to Target today *and* get all three back home. Whoopteedoo! Bunny helped a lot keeping Mr. You Mean I Get to Walk? around without putting too many random items into the cart. He did seem to think we needed a ginormous thing of Tide and many air fresheners (Yummy! was his reason). Otherwise, it was only minorly headache inducing. I forgot my list, so I forgot to get a few things on the list, but I did remember the various kinds of diaper supplies which we needed ASAP, so the other things can wait. Cole slept the whole time, which was a major help, too. Me? I'm exhausted! Need to rest up so I can make dinner... I'm wishing I'd told Heidi to go ahead and bring a meal tonight even though we do have the salmon to cook (this fish needs to be eaten today, seeing as I got it Sunday--we've been so blessed with meals from others that I have not had the chance to cook it yet). It's okay; I'll be happy to have the healthy meal once I am done actually making it (planning salmon, sauteed zucchini, salad).

Oh! And I finally took down the Christmas tree today. So now I just have to get Paul to chop it up so it'll fit in the green waste container and I can say we've avoided being the craziest people on the block. Though with my weird neighbors, that would be a hard feat to accomplish. Seeing as they still have some Halloween decorations up! ;)

Day off? P'shaw!

I remember loving 3-day weekends. It used to be *SO* awesome that MLK Day was neatly just a couple of weeks after New Years, then a month later is Pres Day--just what you need to break up the winter doldrums! Take a coupl eof days off for Good Friday or something, and you have a nicely broken up winter with extra free time to enjoy.

Now it's just a weekend that is ONE DAY TOO LONG. Someday, in a couple of years, we'll go on minivacations, or make good use of the extra day, but this year it's not so much fun. Probably because it's rainy, Cole is cluster feeding with ravenous gusto, and Carter is very TWO. Bunny got out of the house, which I'm sure has immensely improved the prospects of a decent evening, and Nancy dropped off a meal that is cooking in the oven, so my tired butt has less to do than normal to get dinner on the table. So, much thanks to both Heidi, for braving Chuck E. Cheese with an extra child on a rainy holiday Monday (apparently it was a CIRCUS), and Nancy for feeding us. Oh! And she sent a very cute little jacket for Cole to grow into--with Tigger on it!

So, for today, for this year, 3 day weekends are not the bestest thing ever. But soon Paul will be out of the shower he's taking after he did his workout, and he'll be gifted with a fussy 12 day old infant, I will finish assembling dinner, get the kids to eat it (or not, since Carter probably will refuse the stuffed pasta), douse them with water (or put them in the tub), and get them to bed... then open a bottle of wine, methinks. One glass would be heaven right about now.

Then tomorrow is just a normal weekday--much easier than a 'day off' in reality. ;)

I'm really not a complete wreck -- promise!

This happened two days ago, but sue me, I don't get as much computer time as usual, and what I do get involves holding a baby whose age you still count in days (9 today, BTW).

Somehow, despite starting to get ready to leave something like 30 minutes before pick up time, I was still running late to pick up Bunny Wednesday. (I hate modified days!) I decided, as I was literally pulling up near the school as the bell rang, that it would take less time to wimp out and do the car line than to park, put Cole in the front carrier, get out Carter, hold his reluctant hand all the way to school… but for some reason the line was held up for 5 minutes of idling. UGH. I could have walked back and forth 3 times. Live and learn.

I finally pull up, and Bunny runs over, I wave to her teacher and apologize for my tardiness (she’s fine about it, and plenty of non-postpartum moms are later than me anyway). Bunny gets into the car and starts to say how cold she was in just her shirtsleeves in the wind. I ask her why she didn’t put on her sweater—I saw her grab one on her way out the door after I reminded her!—and she told me she had accidentally grabbed a pair of BLACK LEGGINGS instead of her block sweater. Whoopsie! Half the way home I was chuckling about how much of a mess they must think me, sending her sans show and tell item one day and with some pants instead of a sweater the next (though it really wasn’t my fault on the sweater!).

Oh well!

First Outing Today... Oy.

100_5221, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

So today Paul had an appointment which conflicted with Bun's pickup time, so it was the big day to steel myself for an outing with all three. All the way to the car, drive 4 mins to school, walk basically a block, pickup, reverse order and get back home.

I decided to give myself 15 extra minutes to change and dress Cole in footies instead of the nighties he has been wearing at home so he would have warm legs for the front carrier and carseat. 15 minutes sounded like more time than it turned out to be.

Just as I put him on the changing table, I hear the sounds of an eruption in his diaper. Actually, this is an AWESOME thing, since I much prefer changing him than to get him all the way out to the car, then having him start to go. I give him a minute or two to finish up, then open the diaper. TMI, but he was really ready to go. Seemed he *had* to be done going by the results. WRONGO! As I am cleaning up and putting the soiled dipe in the genie, KAPLOWIE! He's not done! But I had an extra wipe handy, so I then cleaned him and was sure to be good to go. NUH-UH! By then I am asking Carter to give my wet wipes and basically just trying to play catcher and mitigate the mess.

Long story short, about 10 minutes later I finally am getting him dressed in his adorable velour Pooh footies my uncle bought for Carter in London (big ben on the front with Pooh, weirdly), and we're in the car about 2 mins later than I usually like to be heading down the driveway. I got there *just* as Bun's class was exiting the room, and Cole was *almost* as much of a hit with the kids and moms as Happy, Olivia's family's new puppy.

Strangely, while all the *mess* was happening, it was the absolute calmest Cole has ever been during a change. Go figure.

Make Your Own Damn Food!

Found a new blog to crush on. Or rather someone with whom I heartily agree on the topic of picky eaters. To read her manifesto on picky eaters, click HERE. While my kids are a little young for me to adopt the idea of 'if you don't like what Mama makes, make something for your own damn self'--I envision Carter covered in yogurt and pretty much only being able to 'make' himself an apple beyond the yogurt, since he can't even open a cheese stick--I love theoretically commiserating with other moms who once 'never' would bow to kids' being picky who also own books on sneaking in extra veggies commando-style.

How low the mighty always fall. *sigh*

Good for the Soul

Good for the soul, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

Made 5 qts of what I mean no slander calling Jewish Chicken Soup. Hey, the recipe is on the back of the bag of Manishevitz noodles. I only change it a teeny bit, adding a tiny bit of red pepper flakes to it, some parsley, and more salt than the recipe calls for.

This stuff is goo-ood!
Since the Manishevitz site does not include this recipe, I can't link to it. It's worth sharing.

4.5 lbs chicken parts, cleaned
2 qt water (I use more--however much to cover the chicken in the pot)
8 whole allspice
8 whole peppercorns (I sub ground pepper per hubby's request)
1 tsp ground dill
1 tsp salt
4 celery stalks, chunked
2-3 medium parsnips, chunked
4 carrots, chunked
1 medium onion, chunked
1 bag Manishevitz fine yolk-free egg noodles

Put all but carrots in pot and bring to boil. Skim and reduce to simmer for 1.5 hrs. Skim. Add carrots and simmer a final 30 mins. Remove chicken and allow to cool a little, then remove from bones, cut into bite size pieces and return to soup. If you will not be eating all this at one time (and it is a LOT), cook the noodles separately (al dente) per package directions and serve with soup in bowl. If you're feeding a hungry crowd, put the noodles in the soup and allow to cook for about 8 mins more then serve.

I never needed to know this existed.

I believe I have mentioned before my odd fascination with Japanese schwag. I find the way popular culture there is manifested to be both oddly compelling and, well, just plain damn odd. I used to collect stationery sets, but having kids limits my actual letter writing nowadays. I fiddle around with bento, though I have not gotten up the nerve to go to the Japanese dept store to buy real-deal bento boxes; I just fake it with Pack & Pack containers. Anyway! This I never want, nor do I ever want any-effing-one aside perhaps from an ENT specialist helping me clean my ears. Gag.

http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/FY377
Hello Kitty Ear Pick

The Japanese love cleaning their ears, and it is often a sign of love if your partner will clean your ears for you. It is not an uncommon sight in Japan to see a man with his head on his partner's lap while she scapes out his ear wax with the precision of a surgeon. This Hello Kitty mimikaki (ear pick) will help you recreate the uniquely Japanese experience of having your ear wax cleaned out. Made of wood with a tiny ladle-like scraper at the end, it is made to be inserted into the ear (but not too far!) and scoop out the ear wax. On top of course, is a incredibly cute figurine of Hello Kitty, usefully weighted for balancing the delicate instrument. There is a whole subculture in Japan dedicated to ear picking, find out why with this high-quality Hello Kitty Ear Pick. 5" (12cm) long. Of course, always excercise common sense when inserting anything inside your body -- these ear cleaners are used throughout Asia but should be used with caution in a sturdy place, like your girlfriend/wife's lap. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Crash! Boom!

Huge storms the past two days, and last night the 'big one' rolled into town. I was up going to the bathroom at about 3, because I do that a lot being massively pregnant, and as I was falling back asleep I heard a loud crash/crack sound. I thought it had to either be the fence we share on one side with the crazy Sanford & Sons neighbors (seriously, that's their backyard, but it's allll theirs, not for sale) or a tree branch. I went over to the living room and flipped on the flood lights and all was well there, then I noticed all the way over to the far side of the pool that the umbrella was upended. Crap. Though that would not be noisy per se. Then I saw that the glass top to the 'circle table' was entirely shattered. Double crap. Shame on me for not even thinking about it when I knew full well there would be 60 MPH gusts today. Oh well, worse things turned over today, like 4 big rigs on the San Rafael Bridge, so losing the top to a somewhat old table is not the end of the world. It never let up enough for me to go out and sweep it up, so that job awaits when hopefully tomorrow is not so crazy weather-wise. But we have a week solid of rain ahead. 10 feet in Tahoe by the end of this weekend! Too bad I seriously doubt I'll make the slopes this season even for April boarding. Bah!

On the plus side, I finished the scarf I started for Bunny last night and today. She loves it, and it came out well. I'll photograph it tomorrow probably. It's soft and purple--one of her new colors she loves. Thank goodness I don't have to do just pink-pink-pink anymore.

Happy New Year!

happy new year!, originally uploaded by drewzel.

Sadly my egg hath not hatched. But hey, all in good time...